Chapped Cheeks and Heaving Chests
by timelucked
Summary: There was a reason the Doctor never told Rose he loved her. Those three words were insulting. How could they think to encompass what it took two hearts to feel. Short angstfic about the Doctor's feeling at losing his pink and yellow girl.


_Post-Doomsday._

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><p><em>I never told Rose Tyler what she needed to hear, what I needed to say, on that day. I could never - can never, never ever - ever tell her. Because if I<em> were_ to ever, it would just insult her - insult me, and all we stood for; all we were meant for._

I love you_ - as if those measly words could have the gall to encompass what two hearts could feel. Did feel. _Do _feel. Will always feel. _

_There was only ever one three-word phrase to encompass her - us, the world, each other; Run, Rose Tyler. _

_But to expect that any other could carry such meaning is preposterous. No language - no, not even my own, not even Gallifreyan - could dare try. _

_It would take three lifetimes just to start, and then where would we be - where could we have gone? To places of old and the days of new and back until we fell in the middle, fell in a puddle - the heap of our lives and the lives that we saved. To rising slopes of rolling, red hills, to the crisp plains of a New New planet._

_We could have done it all, and all that ever need said was just there, at the start of every - of each and of all - adventure. __Run for your life, Rose Tyler__. Run for the life we shared. Run for the glory and run for the valor. Run for the honor, and run for the sake. Run for me like I run for you. Run because it's all we have left in the world, in all the worlds – even the ones we made during the late nights and the sleepless hours. Talking away the dark and watching the passing stars, and always talking about where to run to next._

_Run. It was such a better word than love. In all our running, that's what it chocked up to. _

_Running was love._

_Flushed cheeks and heaving chests - that was love._

_Holding hands and rushing adrenaline was love._

_Wind-blown hair and chapped lips – that was love._

_Pink and yellow was love. _

_And it was only ever there when I closed my eyes. _

_I run still. I'll always run. My feet take me when even I don't want to go. I ran from the very first moment, and I will run until forever. Running was love, but without you, the lines are blurred and running is cheating. Running feels wrong now – so, so wrong, like this rift between us. This other plane, this other dimension, the reason, the only thing that took you away; swept our feet from under us. Running was stolen just as you were, and my word - that world from that word of us, just for us - has been sullied._

_..._

_Perhaps three words like the ones I'll never speak aren't so suitable, aren't so worthy, but maybe - just maybe - there are eight._

_I will _always_ run with you, Rose Tyler._

_Always._

_And don't you ever forget it. Because I never will._

_(Run with me, Rose Tyler, we can run backwards can't we? Remember when we hopped for our lives, hopping, hopping for our lives, Rose Tyler? Maybe we can run backwards, beat out the clock, run backwards until our backs touch and we can finally be. Let us be, we just want to run._

_Run, Rose Tyler. We'll beat the odds just, run.)_

_Please, never stop. Never stop running. I'll never stop running [to] you. Run back to me. Run back, run back, and run back._

_Then we can finally run forward. Forward and up and they won't ever stop us. _

_And that's why I could never – can never, never ever – ever tell Rose what she needed to her. Because if I_ were_ to ever, it would just insult her - insult me, and all we stood for; all we were meant for._

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><p><strong>AN: I blame accidentally listening to the episode preview of Army of Ghosts after watching "Fear Her" Hearing Rose's theme... *sob* **

**So yeah, another Rose/10 angstfic. A very broken, very lonely traveler after the loss of his beautiful, lively, and bright pink and yellow human. You know the Doctor, loves playing with those Earth Girls. Ah, anyway - short little ficlet, just bein' all teenager-y and angsty. Leave a response on what you thought! Love those, you've no idea... and thanks for reading :]**_  
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